The Single Most Important Rule of Business

This might possibly be the single most important rule of business or sales.  If they LIKE you, BELIEVE you, have CONFIDENCE in you and TRUST you, then they may be they will do business with you or buy from you.  Now of these four things LIKE, BELIEF, CONFIDENCE AND TRUST, which one do YOU think is the most influential?  Raise your hand if you thinking it BELIEF c’mon raise your hand?  Raise your hand if you thinking it’s CONFIDENCE?  Who thinks TRUST raise your hand? Raise your hand if you thinking it’s LIKE?

If you were thinking TRUST you’re almost right. If you were thinking LIKE you’re right.  Can I  give you guys and an example? Pretend you’re a single woman of the opposite sex, you go out on a date with some guy.  You come back and now you’re talking about the date with mom or girlfriend or whoever, “You know Betty, I really trusted this guy, but I didn’t like him!”  Oh Betty I like him a lot and I hope we go out – what? Again. I hope we go out again  Liking leads to trusting. Trusting leads to confidence and confidence leads belief. Are you with me on this?

See if you’re not likable the best thing for you to do is get out of people business.  Get a job on the bomb squad or as secret government assassin where not being likeable is ok.

Now everyone will tell you to do what? Become a trusted advisor.  However the only way that you can become a trusted advisor is to first become a friend. The only way that you can become a friend is to be liked – cool?

Free Publicity or Keeping Tabs on Competitor for Free

Google has a very helpful service which can help you get more publicity or keep tabs on your competitor. And the best part it’s FREE!

It’s like a having an media clipping service which scrutinizes both the web and Google News database, then sends you an email as soon as something you’re interested in appears in the search results.

For instance, let’s say you’re a big fan of “Star Wars”. You can set up a Google Alert for
“Star Wars”. Then whenever Google finds any mentioned in a top news story or on the web, you’ll get an email including the web site address so you can go see where
and how “Star Wars” is mentioned.

To set up your own Google Alerts for free, just go to http://www.google.com/alerts (read further down for using this service and its paid alternative).

The exciting thing is you can use this service to grow your business in all sorts of ways.

Some of the obvious ways to use it include setting up alerts to see what others are saying about you online, ‘discover’ what they saying about your competitors, find out about new developments in your field of expertise and/or discover some other prominent with whom you might want to ally yourself in some way.

This service is also one of the best publicity tools ever created and it’s FREE! Here are three tips to use Google Alerts to get media exposure:

STRATEGY #1 –
Obtain IMMEDIATELY publicity by tying-in with breaking news stories.

One of the best and easiest ways to get FREE publicity is to be able to comment on what’s already in the news. For instance, one of my clients, Gerry Robert, book writing coach, wealth expert and author of Millionaire Mindset.

One of the strategies we employ whenever an alert pops up having to deal Wealth, Book Writing, Economy somewhere in America or Canada, you need to contact newspapers and radio/TV shows in that city immediately and let them know you can comment on what’s happening.

Robert then asked, ‘But how will I know when a related story hits the news?’

My answer: “Google Alerts.”

The results will blow you away!

STRATEGY #2 –
Building friendships with media contact who discuss your topic.

Another of my clients, Patrick Snow, also uses Google Alerts service in a very systematic way to get publicity.

Here’s what Patrick does: First he set up alerts to track stories written on his area of expertise, which is Success, Selling and Families.

When he gets an alert email pointing him to a good story on that subject, he then sends the journalist who wrote the story a short email saying he enjoyed article and offers a sincere compliment.

His email stands out because journalists don’t often hear from their readers and when they do it’s usually to complain. Within his email Patrick mentions his website CreateYourOwnDestiny.com to reinforce his credibility.

If the journalist writes him back and thanks him for his comments, Patrick then offers to send them a free copy of his book and mentions he’s happy to be a resource for them on any future stories they might do on this or similar topics.

Patrick Snow has made the front cover of USA Today and multiple TV/Radio interviews.

STRATEGY #3
The Hook is more than Book

Authors are always asking me about a good ‘hook’ or angle should be when approaching the media. I’ll immediately ask them, “What hooks have others used in your industry?”

Usually they don’t know, but by using Google Alerts (or even just searching the Google News database at http://www.google.com/news) you can quickly find video clips, articles in which others with similar expertise are quoted.

For example, let’s say you’ve written a book about Selling. Suppose also that you’re based in Houston. One day you discover a story in the New York Times about Selling in the New Economy. Well, if it’s newsworthy in New York, it’s probably going to be considered newsworthy by the media in your city. So pitch your local media on doing the same story, only this time they’ll be interviewing YOU as the expert.

Here are a few words of advice on implementing this strategy:

Use quotation marks to narrow your alerts, for instance, I have an alert set up for Bert Martinez and because he’s not the only person in the world with that name, I was getting a lot of off-target alerts. Every time Bert or Martinez pop up I received an alert by using “Bert Martinez” it allows be to receive more exact searches.

Seven Strategies for Sales Success

Two common questions that I hear all the time, what do I need to learn to succeed in sales and what do I need to do to succeed sales? Here are a few strategies of sale success.

Succeeding in sales is a learnable skill. Being poor in sales is a learnable skill.

Number one; grow your people skills – remember the customer buys you first. Sell yourself before you even try to sell your company or your product. The client looks to you for assurances and trust.

Number two; sell the benefits – make a list of your benefits that your competition does not have. Use questions that your competition does not ask is good strategy.

Number three; master the objections – there are no new objections so get rid of the existing ones. Make a list of the objections that you hear over and over again. Not interested. Happy with present provider. No budget. Better offer from your competition, etc. And role play the answers.

Number four; target your ideal customer – Make a list of your ideal customer’s traits, B credit, 5-10 employees, 5 plus years in business, 3 plus locations. Make a list of the prospects that match those traits, contact only those “ideal” prospects. It’s a smaller but better list.

Number five; be, do, have –BE a student of sales, never stop learning. This is how I mastered sales. After you learned a new technique, DO it – role play it with friends and associates, teaching is a great to role play it too. Then use it that day. Doing leads to HAVING and the more skills you HAVE the faster you be come a master of your craft. Remember to adapt what you’ve learn to your personality style.

Number six; how you feel is more important than what you know – you heard it before “ attitude is everything” learn how YOU keep a positive attitude, what triggers attitude changes in YOU. Study emotional strategies every morning. The secret to attaining sales success is how you feel about money, yourself, sales, and success. Rich sales people are rich because how the feel, broke sales people are broke because how the feel.

Number seven; save money – this was a big turning point for me, when I started to save just 10% of my income. The savings created peace and confidence that comes with knowing that you have thousands of dollars in the bank. I’ve met hundreds of good and broke sales people, they spend everything they make. Begin with saving 10% of your income and get to the point that you can save 20% or more.

Here’s a final thought. Succeeding in sales is a learnable skill. Losing at sales is a learnable skill. Getting ahead is a result of doing certain things over and over again. And you are in charge. You decide how much you want to succeed by remembering 6 words. “Repetition is the mother of skill.”

Let me ask you – if I blind-folded you and placed you in a dark room and asked you to tie your shoes could you do it? Why? Because you repeated the shoe-tying process a zillion times, right? Again mastering sales takes repetition to master the skills.

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Business Owners Try to Motivate Employees

Wall Street Journal | Small Business By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN – JANUARY 14, 2010

As Recession Lingers, Managers Hold Meetings and Change Hiring Practices to Alleviate Workers’ Stress

Some business owners say their employees—after months of dealing with layoff worries, wage cuts or scaled-back hours—are stressed out and in need of extra attention.

In November, Nancy Jackson was able to hire a new full-time salesperson for the company she co-owns, Architectural Systems Inc. in New York, but found herself facing an angry 19-person staff. “I couldn’t believe their reaction,” she says. Just a few months earlier, some had seen their workweeks reduced or salaries scaled back; two colleagues had been laid off.

Nancy Jackson, center, and Ron Jackson, left, co-founders of Architectural Systems Inc., met with employees to discuss hiring changes at the New York firm.

To mitigate the situation, Ms. Jackson quickly called a meeting to explain that beefing up the firm’s sales force was a necessary first step for making a companywide recovery. Meanwhile, she has since gone about hiring differently, she says, bringing on a new marketing associate as a temporary part-time employee, rather than a full-time staff member, so as not to rile her team. “There’s been a lot of emotional hand-holding here that we’ve never had to do before,” she says.

As the recession lingers, business owners are finding it necessary to take extra steps to make employees feel valued. They say their efforts—many of which cost little or nothing—are critical for maintaining employee productivity, confidence and satisfaction.

“Your employees are being bombarded with doom and gloom,” says Bert Martinez, a small-business adviser in Houston. “If there’s anything you can do to make your employees feel secure and that they’re important, they’re going to work better.”

What’s more, making strides now could help reduce turnover when the job market recovers. A recent Conference Board survey of 5,000 U.S. households showed that just 45% of respondents are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61% in 1987, the first year the survey was conducted.

To show appreciation for her five employees, Elise Lelon, owner of The You Business LLC, a leadership-consulting firm in New York, says she upgraded their job titles. “It doesn’t cost me anything and it makes them feel good,” she says. “You’ve got to think outside the money box when it comes to motivating your employees in this economic environment.”

Ms. Lelon says workers tend to value senior titles like “director” and “manager” because these can make their résumés more robust. “I have two housewives who were high-powered women before they settled down and had families,” she says. “We crafted titles and roles that offer them more continuity. As a result, they feel as if they haven’t missed a beat with their careers.”

Elise Lelon, right, upgraded job titles to motivate employees at her consulting firm, The You Business LLC.

Ms. Lelon pulled other levers as well. For example, she granted her staff the option to work remotely and at hours of their choosing, including nights and weekends. “Autonomy is worth a lot to people,” she says. “This creates an entrepreneurial environment for them.”

And because she didn’t give out pay raises last year, Ms. Lelon says she created a generous bonus-incentive program tied to the amount of revenue her employees generate for the firm. “It gets their juices flowing and it helps the business grow,” she says. “Today, it’s all about switching fixed costs to variable costs whenever possible.”

Christopher Mills, co-owner of Prime Debt Services, a debt-management firm in Dallas, took another approach. Last spring, he began meeting privately with his 14 employees once a week to let them vent, share ideas or just shoot the breeze. “I found the more I listened, the better they pepped up,” he says. “It takes time from me, but it’s worth it.”

Mr. Mills says he has gained valuable information from the get-togethers. For example, an employee once explained that he and some colleagues were upset because the prior week’s sales leads hadn’t been distributed evenly as usual. “It looked like all of a sudden we were playing favorites,” he says.

Immediately after, Mr. Mills met with his sales team to explain that what happened was a mistake, thus avoiding “a huge mutiny,” he says. “When they get it off their chests and realize I do care, it becomes my problem to solve. I can address it and they can go about their day being productive.”

Mr. Mills has also been showing his staff appreciation by preparing them a breakfast of waffles, bacon and coffee every Wednesday. “It’s one less thing on their to-do list.”

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

Time Management real or a hoax? Why Time Management doesn’t Work

Hey guys, Bert Martinez here. Time management tools are really useful, right? Or are they? They show you how to organize your things. The problem is, that these systems are only as good as you FEEL. I’ve always said how you feel is more important than what you. How you feel determines your follow through or follow up – your success.

Consider this. Have you been using time management techniques but still, you feel overwhelmed, unfocused, like you’re not accomplishing some major things? If so, your lack of emotional management may be the reason why your time management approaches may not have worked so well for you.

Stephen Covey, he summed it up best when he said time management is a misnomer. The real challenge is to manage ourselves. So take a pause for a moment. How well do you manage your self?

Let me give you three examples. Let’s say you have an exciting message and you really want to get it out to the media. So you schedule a block of time from 3:00 to 4:00 this afternoon. This is a typical time management technique. But here’s what might take place. Three o’clock rolls around, you sit down at your desk and you start thinking to your self, “What if I send this out and nobody responds? I’m really going to feel dumb,” or, “Oh worst, what if they think this is a stupid idea?” or, “Who am I to write about this subject. I should do some research before I send the message.” Four o’clock rolls around. What do you think is going to determine whether you send that email or not? Was it whether you scheduled it in your calendar or how you feel about you?

Example #2. Let’s say that you decided to lose weight. So you schedule yourself in the gym 3 times a week at 6 am. But what if on the first day it’s really cold and raining. Okay. What’s your reaction? Do you go back to bed? Your level of commitment (feelings) will now take over and decide your actions.

Example #3. Here’s another example. Let’s say that you had an interaction one morning with your spouse and it ended on a pretty tense note. Okay. So as you’re going throughout your day, you’re kind of thinking about it. It’s nawing at you in the back of your mind. Later that day you scheduled planning meeting. Again that’s an excellent time management technique, right? Making time for the things that are most important to you, being proactive. But during that meeting, what do you do? You obsess and you replay what happened that morning. What is that interaction going to mean for my our future?

You’ve scheduled your time for meeting. But were you really present? And also, did you schedule in the time you probably lost thinking about it? Real “time management” is a two-part process. It’s how you schedule your time on the outside but it’s also about how you manage your emotions, the self on the inside. And one without the other is not going to get you the results that you need.

So consider this, instead of focusing on managing your time, start by managing how you feel, developing emotional skills like determination and confidence. Emotional skills will serve your time and your life better.

To summed it up “How You Feel is more Important that What You Know.”

Sales Training Can Show You Ways to Increase Sales

There are many advantages to engaging in sales training. An experienced sales trainer can teach you techniques on how to prospect customers, sell the customer, and maintain fruitful relationships with customers, which will lead to additional sales. Just being in the presence of a sales coach can greatly improve your own awareness. What are some examples? Read on to alert yourself of five ways to increase sales this year.

- Study your competitors closely. How do your products and services look in comparison to what your competition offers? Look for ways to distinguish yourself from them as well as ways to angle your products and services in a better way.

- Good salespeople know their products and services very well. Beyond this, sales training will teach you to begin to learn how to read people well and how to predict their actions as well as general trends they partake in. Knowing your products and services is only the half of it; you must realize how your customers can relate and benefit from what you have to offer.

- Increase your reputation in your field. Focus on becoming a recognized ‘expert’ in your industry. This is part of building your name and your company’s brand name. Customers will learn to keep your name and that of your company in mind next time they are in need of services.

- Make your business a presence on the Web. Many shoppers now rely on the internet to find desired goods and services. Maintain a company Web site and look for ways to promote it within search engine results. Purchasing ad space on the search engines such as Google and Yahoo as well as devoting time to SEO (search engine optimization) strategies are two ways to increase your company’s online visibility.

- A sales coach will help you understand the potential of word-of-mouth marketing. Many companies devote large sums of money each month towards advertising and marketing. You can decrease the amount of money needed to spend on such things by searching for ways to spread the word about your company. Asking current clients to refer you to others in compensation of some kind of reward is just one way to facilitate the process.